Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ Part 1

Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ.

by Rev. A. Bernstein, B.D.

PREFACE.

This book has grown very considerably in the making, and what was expected to form a comparatively small pamphlet has become quite a substantial volume. It is probable that if still more time could have been spent upon it, its size would have been greatly increased, for the fact of the matter is that there have been and are many more Jewish witnesses for Christ than can readily be enumerated. But the author has all along been very desirous that his work should appear in the Centenary Year of the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews, the same year which has seen the production of the History of that Society written by its gifted and deeply lamented Secretary, the late Rev. W. T. Gidney. The two books are companion works of reference, and in relation to Jewish missions they are both of inestimable value.

In some degree the one supplements the other, because the biographies indicate many of the results of the various missionary enterprises recorded in the History.

That Hebrew Christians should publish the arguments which have convinced them that Jesus is the Messiah, not merely for their own vindication, but rather to lead others to the same conviction, is not at all surprising. It is, however, peculiarly noteworthy that their literary efforts have not been limited to those of an apologetic nature, but that, on the contrary, they have made valuable contributions to almost all the departments of human knowledge. The learned author has rendered this one of the most pleasing features of his work, and it has evidently afforded him no little gratification to exhibit clearly the vast erudition of his numerous brethren.

The Rev. F. L. Denman, the other Secretary of the Society, has read the proofs, and has done all in his power to secure accuracy, yet as many authorities have been consulted, and all are not of equal reliability, it is probable that some errors have been overlooked, and those to which readers kindly draw attention will be corrected in any future edition.

H. O. ALLBROOK, _Princ.i.p.al of the Operative Jewish Converts' Inst.i.tution._

JEWISH WITNESSES FOR CHRIST.

INTRODUCTION.

THE history of the Mission to the Jews is coeval with the history of the Christian Church. The names of Christ's disciples mentioned in the Gospels are nearly all those of Jews, and in the Epistles a great many of them are of Jewish converts. But the general reader of the New Testament does not realize the fact, because it was the fas.h.i.+on among the Jews at that time to a.s.sume Greek names. For instance, several of St. Paul's relatives bearing Greek names became Christians, but we should not know that they were Jews if the Apostle had not written, "Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen." Again, "Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen" (Rom. xvi. 7 and 21). Whilst where we have not this information with regard to other such names, we take it for granted that they were Gentiles. For instance, Zenas, mentioned in t.i.tus iii.

13, is naturally taken by the general reader for a Greek, yet scholars maintain that he had formerly been a Jewish scribe or lawyer.

The aim of this work is to shew that G.o.d had at all times in the history of the Christian Church a considerable number of believing Israelites who, after their conversion to Christianity, rendered good service to their fellowmen and to the Church of Christ at large. Out of this company of "the remnant according to the election of grace," only a very few comparatively have their names recorded in history. The names of the great majority are written in the Book of Life alone. But as in the prophet Ezekiel--Noah, Job and Daniel--and as in the Epistle to the Hebrews--the short list of the Old Testament saints--are the representatives of a large number, so may the converts mentioned in this book be considered as representatives of a vast number of their brethren who had the courage and the grace given them to take up the cross and follow Jesus.

Yet, of course, to give a mere nomenclature, or catalogue, of persons would not signify much unless it were followed by a description of the life and work of the persons concerned. The material thereto is abundant--there is a vast literature upon the subject--as will be presently seen, with the exception of that which refers to Jewish converts of the Eastern Church. The sublime maxim, "One soweth and another reapeth," is peculiarly applicable to a biographical writer. He cannot and must not be original, but has to state the facts in the life of the person whom he attempts to delineate, just as he finds them recorded in books, or letters, or as he knows them from personal observation. But it is obvious that the latter can only be the case when the subject of a biographer's writing is a contemporary and known to himself.

The following are the sources from which the writer has immediately drawn his information:--

(1.) "The Jewish Encyclopaedia." Every contributor to this remarkable work of 12 volumes is well-known in the literary and religious world as a reliable authority upon the subject of his article.

(2.) "Juden Mission, a history of Protestant Missions among the Jews since the Reformation," by Pastor de le Roi, well-known and esteemed in the churches on the Continent and beyond its borders.

(3.) "Christen und Juden," by the late Rev. A. Furst, D.D., formerly a Missionary and Pastor at Amsterdam, and well acquainted with Spanish literature.

(4.) "Jewish Witnesses that Jesus is the Christ," by the Rev. Ridley Hersch.e.l.l (father of Lord Chancellor Hersch.e.l.l), who gives his autobiography and the lives of several personal friends.

(5.) "The People, the Land and the Book," by B. A. M. Schahiro, of the Bible House, New York.

(6.) "The Hebrew Christian Witness," by the Rev. Dr. Moses Margoliouth, 1874-5.

(7.) "Sites and Scenes," by the Rev. W. T. Gidney, M.A.

(8.) "The Talmud," whose testimony is very reliable when it speaks of Jewish Christians.

Ultimate sources of information, and ulterior literature, to which nearly all these writers refer, are as follows: "Wolf, Bibliotheca Hebraica." "Graetz, Geschichte der Juden." "Hetzel, Gesch. der Hebraischen Sprache." "Furst, Bibl. Jud." "Steinschneiders Bibliographisches Handbuch." "Catalogue Bodl." "Dict. Nat Biog."

"Meyer's Conversations Lexikon." "Da Costa's History of the Jews in Spain." "Kalkar, Die Mission unter den Juden." "The Jewish Missionary Intelligence." "The Jewish Missionary Herald." "Saat auf Hoffnung," by Professor F. Delitzsch, of Leipzig. "Nathanael," by Professor Strack, of Berlin. Other biographical dictionaries and histories.

CHAPTER I.

APOSTOLIC PERIOD.

The Apostolic Period began on the day of Pentecost when the disciples who were gathered together were a hundred and twenty in number (Acts i.

15), but were only a section of the 500 brethren who had seen the Lord after His resurrection (I. Cor. xv. 6). On the same day, as the result of St. Peter's first missionary sermon, "there were added unto them about three thousand souls" (Acts ii. 41). A short time afterwards "the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith" (Acts vi. 7). This progress continued to such a degree that St. James, after hearing the interesting missionary report of St. Paul, "about the things which G.o.d had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry," said to him, "Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe"

(Acts xxi. 20). How glad we should have been if we had some account of, at least, the more prominent converts of that period, and knew something of the sufferings that they had to endure for the sake of Christ.

Nevertheless, the Acts of the Apostles, though containing much in relation to the progress of the Gospel among Jews and Gentiles, gives but little information with regard to Jewish individual conversions, and mentions only two Jewish Christian martyrs--namely, St. Stephen and James the Elder--and is even silent about the exclusion of Jewish converts from the Temple, which we gather only from the Epistle to the Hebrews. This fact is to us an evidence that St. Luke, the first ecclesiastical historian, had no design to shew to the world the inherent power of the Gospel exemplified by the conversion of many of the very people who had rejected Christ, and it proves the genuineness and authenticity of the Acts of the Apostles and the date commonly a.s.signed, for had it been written later, as some critics maintain, the author would surely have taken the trouble to give his readers some detailed information concerning at least one per cent. of that vast mult.i.tude of Jewish converts mentioned by St. James. Such is the method of the ecclesiastical historian in modern as well as in ancient times, as the following two examples will shew: Pastor de le Roi, Jewish missionary historian, has for years not only collected statistics of Jewish converts in various churches, and summed up the whole number as being 224,000 in the nineteenth century, but he has also furnished us with a great deal of information concerning the history of many of these converts. For, as the Rev. W. T. Gidney rightly says, "Jewish converts must be weighed as well as counted." The second example is Hegesippus, who, according to Eusebius, was a Palestinian Hebrew Christian, and lived in Rome about 150 A.D. He is the father of Church history, and wrote a book under the t.i.tle "Hyponeymata Pente," with the special design to answer the question of the Pharisees, "Have any of the rulers believed in Him?" and to shew that the Gospel made rapid progress among the Jews in the first century in spite of great opposition. Of this opposition the Jewish Liturgy to this day bears witness in the so-called "Blessing against the heretics," which Samuel the Little composed in the Synagogue of Yabne, in the presence of Gamaliel the Elder. Justin Martyr in his Dialogue, Origen in Homily 18, Jerome on Isaiah, complained of it, and it has, alas, been a source of trouble to the Jews at various times throughout the Christian ages. Hegesippus supplies information about a number of Jewish sects, who regarded each other as heretics. It is a pity that the greater part of his book has been lost, and we have only a few fragments in "Euseb. History iv.," and an extract in "Photius Bibliotheca" (page 232). That probably contained detailed information about the more prominent converts in the Apostolic age. Still, the most valuable relic for us is his list of Hebrew Christian bishops in regular succession in the mother Church at Jerusalem. These are as follows: James, the Lord's brother (Gal. i. 19), of whom Hegesippus states that he was martyred while praying in the Temple. Symeon about 62 A.D., Justus I. 64, Zacchaeus 112, Tobias 114, Benjamin 116, Justin 118, Matthias 120, Philip 122, Seneca 125, Justus II. 126, Levi 128, Ephres 130, Joseph 132, Jude 133. The shortness of their episcopates probably indicates that it was a time of great tribulation. To this list may perhaps be added Ananias, who baptized Saul of Tarsus at Damascus, and, according to tradition, was subsequently bishop there and suffered martyrdom (See "Schaff. Bible Dictionary"); Crispus, Chief of the Jewish Synagogue (Acts xviii. 8), who, according to tradition ("Const.i.tuit Apost." vii. 46), was afterwards Bishop of aegina; Clement, of Rome, who, according to Bishop Lightfoot, was an h.e.l.lenistic Jewish convert or son of a convert. The bishop came to this conclusion, after weighing much the internal evidence of his Epistle to the Corinthians.[1]

[1] Rev. Dr. Giles writes: "In the 'Homiles and Recognitiones,' falsely ascribed to Clement, his father is said to have been one Faustinus, descended from the family of the Roman Caesars, and this absurd fable is copied in the 'Liber Pontificates,' or book of the Roman Pontiffs, and in the work of Eusebius, Bishop of Lyons." ("Hebrew Records," vol. ii.

294).

Two of the converts of the first century are mentioned in the Talmud and receive there an excellent testimonial. The first is Nicodemus, identical, according to the writer in the "Jewish Encyclopaedia," with Nicodemus ben Gorian. He is said to have been a great saint. The other is Jacob of Kefar Sakanya (Simai). He once met R. Eliezer in the upper market-place of Sepphoris and asked his opinion on a curious ritualistic question bearing upon Deut. xxiii. 8. As R. Eliezer declined to give an opinion, Jacob acquainted him with the interpretation of Jesus derived from Micah i. 7. R. Eliezer was pleased with the interpretation, and was consequently suspected of Christian leanings by the governor (Abodah Zarah, 17. a). On another occasion, Jacob went to heal R. Eleasar ben Dama of a poisonous bite by a serpent in the name of Jesus, but his uncle, R. Ishmael, would not allow it. Jacob said to him, Rabbi Ishmael, my brother, let me heal him, and I will prove to you from the Torah, that it is allowed, but R. I. was obstinate. In the meantime the patient died, and his uncle apostrophized the corpse in these words: "Happy art thou Ben Dama that thy body is pure and thy soul departed in purity, as thou hast not transgressed the words of thy fellow rabbis" (Abodah Zarah, 27. b).

CHAPTER II.

SUB-APOSTOLIC OR PATRISTIC PERIOD.

Besides Hegesippus, one reckoned among the church fathers was Epiphanius, a native Jew of Palestine, who embraced Christianity at sixteen years of age, and eventually became Bishop of Constantia, and died at sea (according to Bartolocci) in 403 A.D. He wrote a book ent.i.tled, "Panarion," in which he gives information about eighty heretical sects, including Jewish; also a treatise on Biblical weights and measures and on the lives of the Prophets, in which he makes Hebrew quotations.

Another noted Jewish convert belonging to this period was Joseph, a physician of Tiberias (called by the Jews "The Apostate"). He had been a member of the Sanhedrin in his native town, was sent by them as a delegate to the Jews in Cilicia, where he became acquainted with the Christian bishop, who gave him a New Testament. According to Milman (vol. iii., p. 179) he was detected reading it, was hurried to the synagogue and scourged. The bishop interfered. But he was afterwards seized again and thrown into the river Cydnus, from which he hardly escaped with his life, and was baptized. On his return he told his friends in Palestine that the Gospel made progress among the enlightened Jews. The Emperor Constantine elevated him to the rank of Comes or Count of the Empire, and he devoted his life to the building of churches at Tiberias, Capernaum, Nazareth, and Sepphoris (Dio Caesarea). It is worth mentioning in this connection the report of Epiphanius that Hillel, who succeeded his father Judah II. in the patriarchate of Tiberias, embraced Christianity and was secretly baptized on his death-bed by a bishop.

Joseph, his physician (says Milman) had witnessed the scene which wrought strongly upon his mind. The house of Hillel after his death was kept closely shut up by his suspicious countrymen. Joseph obtained entrance, and found there the Gospels of St. John and of St. Matthew, and the Acts in a Hebrew translation.[2]

[2] This is denied by Graetz. See article in the "Jewish Encyclopaedia,"

where it is a.s.serted that this Hillel was honoured by Julian the Apostate. But we have also the solution of the difficulty there. It is avowed that there is no clear distinction between Juda II. and Juda III.

Milman says distinctly that this Hillel was the son of Juda II., whereas Jewish writers make him to be the son of Juda III.

Tabius, of high priestly descent, son of one Anan, probably the one who was sent on emba.s.sy to the Emperor Claudius, is also mentioned by ecclesiastical writers as having embraced Christianity.

Asher ben Levi, called Abed al Masih, lived in the fourth century in Sinjar Mesopotamia. His school companions, both Zoroastrian and Christian, shunned him, but the latter on one occasion baptized him.